Old Settlers could make Marion its best ever
This is an editorial, not a news story. Still, in an era of rampant and often false allegations of “fake news,” the Record has to be careful in making its traditional assessment of the latest Old Settlers Day as the best ever.
It surely was the best ever for many of those reuniting with childhood friends they see only every five to 10 years. But perhaps it might be more appropriate to label it the best ever to be delayed by rain with, for reasons unknown, no homecoming football game the night before.
Nearly everything great has something not-so-great that goes with it. Just ask anyone who has ever marched behind or worked the cleanup crew after marveling at glamorous steeds that nobly close out most parades.
The glamour and nobility of each year’s Old Settlers parade is not how kids along the parade route can fill bags of candy faster than they can on Halloween. It’s the sincere love for the community expressed by people who every five or 10 years return to pay homage to a community that so memorably nurtured them while growing up.
The other side of that is why so many of the hundreds riding on class floats — seemingly outnumbering those lining the parade route — no longer live here. It’s clear that to achieve professional success, many had to leave the warm embrace of Marion. But why more of them have not returned in retirement is a question reminiscent of the steaming piles marchers have to avoid following horses.
It’s not that anyone faults Marion alumni for failing to fight the most powerful force in the universe in determining retirement destinations. The lure of being near children and grandchildren is inescapable.
It’s not that anyone faults Marion alumni for preferring year-round perfect weather of resort communities as sites for retirement. But it is something that our community, which has its own resort-like areas, may need to worry about because of the long-term implications of so few retirees returning after leaving to make their fame and fortune.
Over the years, one of Marion’s drivers of progress, both economically and politically, has been the willingness of older generations to invest both their money and their time in helping to pay back the community that gave them their start.
These days, stock portfolios provide greater guarantees of return, and other communities seem to provide more welcoming activities for seniors. The upshot is a brain drain that sees more and more local businesses closing or being sold off to outside interests less committed to our community’s future than those who feel they owe something for the start they received here.
To lure more economic and political development, Marion doesn’t need polluting, sweat-shop factories and an ever increasing supply of low-cost housing. It needs housing that’s high-quality not necessarily low-cost, and it needs activities for seniors not just for kids. Provide these, and the investment capital and political and social leadership that often appear lacking might actually start to grow.
It’s up to those of us who stayed behind or returned here in retirement to provide an environment in which the love that draws Old Settlers to come back for a day can be transformed into a love that draws them to stay.
The payoff may not be immediate, but the experiences and resources retirees bring will eventually generate returns at an even higher rate than what the community receives from distant corporations that temporarily alight here without any inbred love and respect for our community.
One of the best ways for our community to advance is for Old Settlers to return as New Settlers and to be warmly welcomed rather than viewed as outmoded challenges to existing power structures.
— ERIC MEYER